CHIEFJUSTICEOFTHESTATEOFPALESTINEINGHANA

Dr Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Supreme Judge of the Sharia Courts of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian President’s Advisor for Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations, is in Ghana.

Addressing a news conference in Accra on Friday, July 27, 2018, Dr Al-Habbash urged the international community to exert pressure on Israel to prevent further deterioration of the situation in Palestine.

He said the State of Palestine was committed to non-violence and co-operation with the International community to achieve their objective of ending Israeli occupation.

Dr Al-Habbash said after the Israeli occupation of Palestine in 1948, the people of Palestine began the struggle against the occupation, using violent means, but decided in 1988 to change the form of resistance to a peaceful diplomatic struggle against the occupation.

He wondered that the impression had been wrongly created that Palestine was rather the aggressor.

Present at the meeting was Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, who noted that the commitment of the Palestinian people to a peaceful means of ending Israeli occupation was indisputable.

Mr Pratt said Palestine had made too many concessions to the Israeli people, for example by recognising the existence of the State of Israel and by demanding only 22 per cent of the occupied territory.

He expressed regrets that the concessions made by the Palestinians were rather seen as a sign of weakness.

He said the Palestinian people had no option, but to use peaceful means in their struggle against the Israeli occupation forces as any violence could lead to another World War because Christians, Muslims and the Jews alike had key interests in the region.

In a statement, His Excellency Abdalfatah Ahmed Khalil Alsattari, the Ambassador of the Palestinian State to Ghana, condemned the refusal of Israel to recognise the right of the Palestinians to a state.

Ambassador Alastair said the government and people of Palestine were determined to continue the struggle of ending Israeli occupation and were optimistic that, that objective would virtually be achieved, no matter how long it took.